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Say “Credit” to Protest

If you’re like me, you pay for most everything with your debit card. The companies I frequent, of course, would rather I run the card through as debit to avoid the 3% service charge that Master Card imposes on purchases that are made using the credit option. To me it makes no difference. The money comes out of my checking account either way, so I have started to make the decision on how I run the card based on the degree to which I like, or don’t like the company or store where I’m shopping.

Since I live in rural New England and my choices are limited, I sometimes have to shop at places I don’t like, so forcing these establishments to run my purchase through as credit has become my way of protesting them. Since I tend to prefer small, locally owned businesses to large, box stores like Home Depot, there is also the added benefit of giving the little guys an advantage over the large, National chains. Will it make any difference in the end? Most likely not, but if I can cut into Walmart’s bottom line by 3%, all the better in my mind.

So, should you find yourself shopping at a place you don’t like, say “credit” rather than “debit” when you check out and knock a little off their annual profit report.

2 thoughts on “Say “Credit” to Protest”

I’m with you on this one! I do the same thing for the small local businesses. But at the big box stores I run through as credit. I know it’s not much, but every little bit helps. The only problem is that my understanding is that you’re not as covered for fraud, etc using debit though.

Northway Bank has an ad out saying they’ll pay you $.10 every time you use debit instead of credit for your transactions. That makes it a delicious ethical choice: better to harm the merchant or to benefit yourself? I say harm.